


Bloody Nose

by veins_and_teeth



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Bad Parenting, Canonical Child Abuse, Character Study, Childhood Trauma, Eventual Smut, Fanboy Rhys (Borderlands), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jack Has Issues, Jack being Jack, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Moxxi is gross, Parent Handsome Jack (Borderlands), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychosis, Rhys is Handsome Jack's Personal Assistant, Scooter does his absolute best, Slow Burn, Song Fic Kinda?, Song: Bloody Nose- Earlimart, Unrequited Love, only for a little bit though!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 03:35:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17593853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veins_and_teeth/pseuds/veins_and_teeth
Summary: When Rhys, the Senior Vice Janitor of Hyperion, makes the stupid choice to file a complaint to Handsome Jack himself, he doesn't think it will ever go through. Weeks after he submitted the complaint, he decides it's a lost cause, and he'll be cleaning for the rest of his miniscule life. On the sixth week of waiting, he's called into Jack's office for one hell of a promotion.





	1. Clean your Bloody Nose in the Bathroom

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in quite a while. I decided to write this story to get back into the flow of things. Future chapters will be much longer.

The feeling of dust and grit in his hand.

The smell of clean linen, mixed with fresh air.

The sight of daffodils and tall grass drenched in sunlight.

The sound of wind barreling past your window, carrying birds on their way.

The taste of peaches and cream, accompanied by the metallic taste of the fork.

He thinks about how beautiful life is, and how beautiful it can be. Whenever his grandmother left the house, order was restored. It’s as if nothing bad had ever happened to him, as if the buzz axe had never touched him, as if he were unscathed. He felt clean.

On weekends, John’s Grandma would go to town and do whatever business she had to do. John was not allowed to know what she did, which he preferred anyways. He was leaning over the kitchen counter near the window, taking in the fresh air. He needed this, he needed time alone.

A hummingbird chirped outside of the window, looking at the flower vase on the window sill. There was a purple and white orchid, standing tall, and interesting the bird. It looked at John, unsure if it was safe to come that close to the window. He took a few steps back, moving off of the white tile counter. The bird took this as a sign and began sipping the flower, flying away soon after.

He shut the window, latching it closed. His bare feet dragged along the carpet, and his fingers brushed the royal blue walls. He needed a shower. Opening the bathroom door was a struggle. There was weight on the other side, forcing John to push as hard as he could. When it finally swung open, he was met with a sight that would ruin his weekend.

Bloodied and bruised bodies lined the floor, and some were even stacked in the bathtub. John was fucking horrified. Sure, he’s not new to fear, especially when his Grandma went into his room wielding her buzz axe, but he’d never seen so much death in his life. It smelled like rotten meat and dead rats.

He came to and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily, afraid for his life. When he turned around to run, there she was. Grandma was there, laughing with the axe in her hand.

Then, gasping for air, Jack woke up to his assistant calling his name.


	2. Tell Me a Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vasquez pushes Rhys to the limit, so Vaughn helps him write a complaint to the "higher powers".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT: The assistant mentioned in the last chapter was NOT Rhys. It was just a random, disposable worker.  
> If you see any issues or have suggestions, please comment.  
> And, yes, Rhys and Jack will interact very soon. Be patient lol

Hugo Vasquez. Certified asshole, and Rhys’ boss. In the grand scheme of things, Handsome Jack was the boss of everything on Hyperion that moved (hell, probably even the plants), but he didn’t have the time to look over all of his workers. Anyways.  
Rhys was walking down the long hallway, dodging finger guns and making small talk with Vaughn, his tech nerd best friend from accounting. His size thirteen skag-skin boots clicked when they came in contact with the ground, a sound that made people look his way and boosted his confidence. He didn’t blow valuable Hyperion dollars on them just to look cool. Well. Maybe.  
“This is serious stuff, Rhys! This is gonna change your life forever if he promotes you!” Vaughn whisper-shouted.  
“Our lives, Vaughn. And there can’t be any “ifs”, I’ve been working on this promotion since I got here! I’ve known that loader bot since he was built!”  
Rhys exclaimed, motioning towards a large yellow loader bot in a red tie. The bot gave a thumbs up, then proceeded to walk in another direction.  
“Well, big-shot, when you get promoted, what are you gonna do with all the cash? We could practically swim in it!”  
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Most of the stuff is probably going to go back to Hyperion, somehow. These guys are just a bunch of corporate leeches.” Rhys scoffed, biting his cheek.  
“I know, I know. I just think-” Vaughn started, being cut off by a cybernetic hand on his mouth. “We’re here, at the gateway to my future, right bro?” Rhys said, adjusting his tie and removing his hand from his friend. “Yeah bro. All though, your tie looks really weird.” Vaughn pointed out, noticing the oddly long tie drooping by his legs. “Seriously? I just had it dry-cleaned, I think it looks fine.” Rhys argued. “Dude, just let me-” Vaughn grabbed the long tie, shoving the extra length into his friend’s pants. “Vaughn, stop, you’re gonna tear it or something!” he yelled. “No I’m not, I’m being gentle!” “No you’re not, you’re hurting me!”  
Vasquez’s door swung open just then, letting whoever was inside see Vaughn rummaging through Rhys’ pants. They quickly adjusted themselves, and then Vaughn nodded and took off down the hall from which he came. Vasquez stood there, arms crossed. “Well, Ross, I’d uh- prefer if you kept your affairs private. God, now I’m super uncomfortable.” Vasquez remarked. Rhys just laughed and scratched his neck, not bothering to correct his name. “Look, just come inside and sit down, we have business to discuss.”  
Rhys did exactly that, sitting on the small plastic chair Hugo had provided for him. He turned on his echo eye, quickly checking his surroundings, because everyone knew not to trust Vasquez. His boss took a seat across from him. “So, Rick. I’ve noticed your extra help around here lately. Not that we needed it, but it’s a nice gesture. Let’s cut to the chase,” Vasquez started, and Rhys was anxious. “That promotion you were talking about with the accountant? Consider it done.” And with that, Rhys liked Vasquez for once. “Wow, thanks Vasquez. Everyone always calls you a bad guy, but I think-” “Alright, enough. I’m promoting you to Senior,” Rhys leaned forward. “Vice,” Rhys leaned closer. “Janitor.” And, with that, Rhys hated Vasquez even more than before.  
“No no. You can’t demote me. That’s up to Handsome Ja-” Rhys stuttered, Vasquez cutting him off, “I know I can’t demote you, that’s why I’m calling it a promotion.”  
Now, there was only a select few people Rhys truly did hate. And God, if Vasquez didn’t top that list. “Report to sewage scow twenty-three, effective immediately.”  
With that, Rhys stood up and walked out of the dark room. Vaughn appeared shortly after the doors closed. “What the hell was that? They can’t do this to us!” he said, furious with what he had just heard. “They just did, Vaughn.” was all that Rhys had to say. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He was in the mood to seriously strangle Vasquez.  
Rhys and Vaughn stormed off down the hallway towards the accounting room. “I should be in Vasquez’s place right now, wearing his big, ugly suit and having a nice view of space!”  
“I can’t believe he did this to you- to us! We need to file a complaint to Handsome Jack immediately, we can’t just let him walk all over us!”  
Rhys scoffed. “Now’s not the time for jokes Vaughn, we need to figure out how to fix this!” “I’m serious. It wouldn’t hurt to write a letter to the big guy, right? I doubt he would read it anyways, but we need to take action!” Vaughn yelled, catching the attention of his co-workers. He proceeded to kick over a trash can, spilling its contents on the clean tile.  
A siren went off, followed by: “SENIOR VICE JANITOR RHYS TO SECTOR D451 FOR TRASH CLEANUP. BECAUSE THAT IS YOUR JOB NOW. TO CLEAN UP TRASH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.”  
“You know what, Vaughn? Maybe it is time I wrote a letter to Handsome Jack. Even if he doesn’t read it, I hear that writing your problems down helps relieve stress, and I’m seriously about to strangle something.” Vaughn put his arm around Rhys. “Let’s go write a complaint, buddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this!! I hope this chapter wasn't too goofy lol. I tend to write very seriously, and it's nice to write about a game that's like, 40% jokes and comic relief. Updates will be mildly frequent. Have a great day! <3


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